If pictures of videos of you have been published on OnlyFans without your permission or consent, you may be able to bring a lawsuit against OnlyFans and the credit card companies (e.g., Visa, MasterCard) and get financial compensation. Our firm is currently seeking clients for a class action lawsuit against OnlyFans and its credit card processors for knowingly allowing unauthorized content to be posted without consent.
On this page we will look at the legal allegations in the OnlyFans non-consent lawsuits and who might be eligible to become a plaintiff.
About OnlyFans
OnlyFans is a subscription-based content platform where creators can monetize their content by charging users (subscribers) for access. Believe it or not, OnlyFans was originally designed and intended to be a platform for all types of creators, like fitness trainers and artists. That seems like a very distant memory now because OnlyFans is now notoriously known for and associated with sexual content – i.e. porn. The name “OnlyFans” is basically synonymous with online porn.
The platform allows creators to publish their own exclusive photos and videos and then make that content available to subscribers who pay a monthly fee. Many creators offer personalized content, private messaging, and pay-per-view posts, making OnlyFans distinct from traditional adult entertainment sites by emphasizing direct creator-fan interactions.
OnlyFans operates on a revenue-sharing model, where creators earn money through subscriptions, tips, and paid content, while the platform takes a percentage of their earnings. All of the sales, tips, subscriptions, and pay-per-view transactions on OnlyFans are processed through major credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard.
The Dark Side of OnlyFans
The rise of OnlyFans has been framed as a story of financial empowerment, particularly for women looking to monetize adult content. But beneath its surface lies a darker and sicker reality: the platform has also become a tool for exploitation and abuse. Our lawyers have been investigating potential lawsuits and we have found numerous reports of girls and women were forced, coerced, or trafficked into producing content for OnlyFans, often by intimate partners, traffickers, or manipulative figures promising financial security.
Some cases involve women who were physically abused, isolated, and threatened by boyfriends or fiancés who turned them into unwilling performers. Others were lured by social media influencers or traffickers operating organized rings, using deception, violence, or coercion to control them. Prosecutors have pointed to the platform’s structure—where content is hidden behind a paywall and earnings are sometimes wildly lucrative—as a means by which traffickers can operate with relative secrecy.
While OnlyFans promotes itself as a safe and empowering platform, critics argue that its oversight has been lacking, with past policies allowing content to be posted without immediate verification of consent. Survivors describe feeling trapped—both by their abusers and by the stigma of having their images permanently online. Some have pursued legal action against OnlyFans, alleging the company profited from their exploitation, but legal protections for platforms make holding them accountable difficult.
Content On OnlyFans Posted Without Consent
What makes OnlyFans unique in the world of online porn is that it doesn’t actually create buy any of the actual content that gets sold on its platform. All of the content on OnlyFans is created and published by OnlyFans “creators,” who are mostly amateurs. So its basically homemade videos and pictures posted by the person who made the video or took the picture.
The fundamental issue with this model is that is creates a very obvious risk that some of the subjects in videos and pictures may not have consented to having their image and videos posted and sold on the platform. Non-consensual content on OnlyFans is a huge issue and it generally falls into one of three categories.
Consent For Video But Not For Posting Online
The first and most common type of non-consensual content on OnlyFans is content in which the subject consented to the video or picture being taken, but did NOT consent to those videos or pictures being posted and sold online. The classic example of this is where a boyfriend or husband takes makes a homemade sex video. The wife or girlfriend may have given her consent to take the video, but she never consented to having it posted and sold online. She gave her consent on the condition that it be kept private.
In order for content to be legally posted and sold on OnlyFans, all of the subjects in the video or pictures must be of legal age and they must have consented not only to the video being taking, but to the video being posted on OnlyFans. Allowing a boyfriend to take sex videos does NOT mean you are consenting to those videos being published online and sold on OnlyFans.
Underage Content
Another type of non-consensual content on OnlyFans is content featuring subjects who are minors (under the age of 18). Legally, anyone under the age of majority in their state lacks the legal capacity to give consent. So even if a person gives their consent to having a video taken, and consents to it being posted on OnlyFans, if that person is underage then the content is non-consensual. In many cases non-consensual underage content on OnlyFans may actually be posted by the subject themselves. Even in that scenario the content is still considered non-consensual and illegal because if the subject is not an adult they cannot legally give consent.
Rape and Sexual Assault Content
The third, and fortunately least common, type of non-consensual content on OnlyFans involves videos or pictures in which one of the subjects did not consent to the sexual act shown in the video. In other words, the video shows someone being raped or sexually assaulted.
This somewhat obviously qualifies as non-consensual content because if the subject did not consent to the sexual contact, they obviously did not consent to it being recorded and posted online.
Lawsuits For Non-Consensual Content On OnlyFans
Anyone who had videos or pictures of themselves posted and sold on OnlyFans without their consent can potentially bring a lawsuit against OnlyFans and other parties and seek financial compensation.
The non-consensual content lawsuits against OnlyFans are based on negligence claims. Plaintiffs in these cases would be alleging that OnlyFans negligently allowed the non-consensual content to be posted by failing to adopt and implement adequate policies and procedures.
OnlyFans has policies which require content creators to provide verification of the age and identity of individuals shown in all content, but there are major loopholes in this system. For starters, if the creator can upload a picture of the person’s driver’s license all they have to do is check the consent box themselves. This is very easy for a boyfriend or husband to do.
Holding Credit Companies Liable
In addition to bring lawsuits against OnlyFans for non-consensual content, new evidence has opened the possibility of bringing claims against credit card companies like Visa and MasterCard. In January 2023, a high ranking compliance executive in the banking and credit card industry filed a whistleblower complaint accusing Visa and MasterCard of knowingly facilitating transactions involving non-consensual sexual content.
The details of the whistleblower complaint, which was filed with the U.S. Treasury Department, suggests that both Visa and Mastercard knew that they were processing transactions on OnlyFans that might be for child porn or non-consensual content. The companies might have had this knowledge as early as 2021. The legal allegations behind the whistleblower complaint are based on violations of the Bank Secrecy Act by knowingly laundering proceeds from illegal activities.
This information about the knowledge that Visa and Mastercard may have had regarding non-consensual or illegal content being sold on OnlyFans will form the basis of a class action lawsuit.
OnlyFans Non-Consensual Content Class Action Lawsuit
Our law firm is currently seeking plaintiffs to serve as class representatives in a new class action lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard for financing the purchase of non-consensual content on OnlyFans. The lawsuit will allege that these credit card companies knew or should have known that some of the content being sold on OnlyFans was non-consensual, either because it involved minors, rape, or subjects who did not consent to publication.
The class action lawsuit will develop detailed allegations that Visa and Mastercard failed to develop and enforce proper policies and procedures to ensure that their payment processing networks were not being used for the sale of non-consensual content. These allegations could be based on failures to comply with certain federal laws and regulations, such as the Bank Secrecy Act.
Contact Us About Lawsuits for Non-Consensual Content on OnlyFans
If you (or your child) had non-consensual sexual content posted and sold on OnlyFans, you may qualify to serve as one of the named plaintiffs in a new class action lawsuit against Visa and Mastercard. If you are interested in this, call us today at 800-553-8082 or contact us online.
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